The Wii Launches in Japan

The Wii has launched in Japan, successfully and without many of the incidents associated with the PlayStation 3 launch. Joystiq's coverage of the Wii's painless Nippon birth has nothing but praise for the crowd control efforts of electronics outlets. The talk is entirely of sellouts and happy gamers. From the article: "Numerous methods of retail were used to launch the Wii, and these varied from store to store. Yodobashi kept its customers camped overnight in a parking lot, distributing numbered tickets to determine the order of entrance, before opening its doors at 7am. Bic Camera also opened at 7am, although most of the 650 people in line there didn't arrive until the first trains of the morning began to run at around 5am. Famitsu reports that the Tokyo Ikebukuro branch of Bic Camera sold out if its allocation of 1,200 units, while the Tokyo Yuuraku-cho arm of Bic Camera declared the console "sold out" at 5.41am when the 1,500th person arrived in the queue there." Kotaku has even more extensive coverage, with plenty of photos of the waiting lines.

Comments

wow

[cttforsale]

1200 units at one location? Now that's a launch!

Re:wow

[Ninjaesque One]

The Times Square Toys'R Us got 3,000 PS3's in the launch.

Didn't stop it from selling out a day before, though.

Re:wow

[the dark hero]

Please remember that Japan is a much smaller country than the U.S. Just about everything they do (in the city) is done in high values. http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/japan/geography/japan -us-size.gif

Re:wow

[Nemetroid]

6.5% (estimation from 2000 numbers) of the US population lives in New York and about 3% in New York City. Assuming that Times Square actually Toys'R Us got 3000, that's reasonable since it's a very central location. 1200 was in just one store, not necessarily the hugest one either.

Re:wow

[Hubbell]

No wonder the PS3 was hard to find, they shipped half of the available consoles to one store!

Jipped.

[Trashhalo]

If only I lived in japan -_-. Anyone else see their VC launch list and feel jealous? They get: Zelda 3, Super Mario Bros and World and we get: Baseball for NES. WOooooooooooOOooOOo Those games arent even coming to the US 2007.

Re:Jipped.

[FreeRadicalX]

This bugs me too. I can understand how many games are released in one region and not another for fear or not selling successfully (which I think is silly in most cases anyway, it's what's kept most Americans from playing the other games in the Earthbound series and from enjoying a lot of the the Final Fantasy games upon their initial releases), but how does this apply to software? How much profit could the possibly be losing by just hosting the game files on a server? They already knew what sold successfully the first time, why increment virtual console releases? Wouldn't a full store of VC games upon the Wii's release be more impressive to the potential Wii purchaser?

Re:Jipped.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo of America feels it would be more "strategic" to hold high popularity titles (like SMB, or what have you) for months in the year where Wii Titles being released aren't so impressive

This is ofcourse, one fucked up strategy, because releasing some classic title hardly makes up for having nothing original, but no one ever accused Nintendo of America of being entirely sane.

Re:Jipped.

[Telvin_3d]

Actually, the impression that I got wasn't that they were holding it for weeks with poor Wii releases, but weeks were they would have otherwise poor VC releases. They are planning on releasing 1-5 new VC games every week. Most weeks this is going to be a couple B list titles and one or two C list titles. Every month or two, they will release one of the A list titles (SMB, etc..) instead.

From the point of view of giving everyone their favourite game right away, not the best. From the point of view of building constant attention and interest in the VC, I think it is the right way to go. Every Monday, everyone is going to be waiting to see what goes up this week. Some people will grab a game, play it for a week and then grab something from the next Mondays offering.

Re:Jipped.

[Trashhalo]

But if you are trying to drum up interest in the wii which is more likely to win over a friend

1.) There is this great feature called the VC where you can download all your favorite classic games.
2.) There is this great feature called the VC that lets you download older games, not necessarily classics but older games. Dont worry though eventually nintendo may let you download a game you like!

This gen I have basically turned into a nintendo fanboy. Pre launch and post launch I am always trying to hype the console. When I was telling people about the information coming out of the media about the VC all my classic gamer friends who had gotten out of gaming were very excited about the wii. But when I tell people now that they wont see any classic nintendo games till some unannounced time in 2007 it just doesnt drum up much interest. So while I understand the logic of spacing out the A games and I think that will boost VC sales numbers it will hurt console sales numbers.

Re:Jipped.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, now! It's spelled "gypped." Either learn to spell it correctly, or just say you got "jewed" instead of blaming the Gypsies-whose-name-you-can't-spell for ripping you off. After all, they're pretty much the same, amirite? *drum-roll*

  This has been a message from the bad people at Bigots Anonymous.
"Have you stereotyped someone today?" (tm)

(whoa. my captcha is "idiotic." how's that for instant karma?)

Re:Jipped.

[hardran3]

Since they are selling every Wii they make right now, I don't think they are too worried. By the time that is a problem, there will be lots of games on the VC. Give Big N 3 months to work out the kinks in their brand new online infrastructure. By march of 2007 I am sure the VC will be great.

Re:Jipped.

[trdrstv]

But when I tell people now that they wont see any classic nintendo games till some unannounced time in 2007 it just doesnt drum up much interest. So while I understand the logic of spacing out the A games and I think that will boost VC sales numbers it will hurt console sales numbers.

I disagree on both points. The first has to do with the definition of 'classic'. Mario 64, Donkey Kong and F-Zero are all classics in my book. Same With Golden Axe, and the (soon to come Gunstar Heroes.) You may not get what you want right away, and feel upset that Japan IS getting that particular title (I for one would buy 5 from their list), but there are classics to be had.

Secondly, lack of VC titles right now won't hurt their numbers. Nintendo will sell every Wii unit they get to market before Christmas. Despite me having my Wii online since 11-19-06, many people won't see theirs until Christmas Eve, or Christmas day. By then you'll have more titles and the 'Weather Channel'. The VC at this point to them is just 'the gravy' and not a big sales bullet. I expect that to change in 2007, especially if they can manage the IP rights mess to N64's Goldeneye.

Re:Jipped.

[Anonymous Coward]

We Gypsies have for centuries hoped that people would forget the origin of the term "gypped" by spelling it "jipped". Now you have reminded everyone of our historic reputation. Let it be spelled "jipped" so we can live in peace.

Re:Jipped.

[Nevyn]

This gen I have basically turned into a nintendo fanboy. Pre launch and post launch I am always trying to hype the console.

Like a lot of people I've basically turned into a Nintendo FanBoi this gen. too. Damn I want decent games not pretty graphics. I just hope Nintendo don't screw it up.

But when I tell people now that they wont see any classic nintendo games till some unannounced time in 2007 it just doesnt drum up much interest.

That's a little unfair you've got, Soloman's Key; Zelda 1; Sonic and Bomberman '93 (5 player). All of which are classics, IMNSHO. I would have prefered they release them all at once (damit, I want ToeJam and Earl) ... but I'm pretty sure they are going to make more money overall with this strategy, so I can't really blame them.

Re:Jipped.

[Senjutsu]

Think about it for a minute: Nintendo cannot put games they do not own the copyright to up, so they need to attract the third-party developers to agree to license their content to the system. In other words, they need to convince the third parties that there's money to be made from this Virtual Console scheme.

Now, is Hudson going to want to license Bonk's Adventure to the system if, right out of the door, rather than being one of the better of 20 tittles available, it's buried in the entire back-catalog of every game Nintendo ever made. I sure as fuck wouldn't. You might still attract those nostalgic from the TG-16, but there'd be an order or two of magnitude fewer impulse buys.

Constant small releases guarantee a less threatening sense of competition against Nintendo's dominant first-part titles for third-party developers, and ensure a continual amount of interest and impulse buys on a weekly basis. In the long-run, greater third-party participation will make Nintendo more money, and make it a better system for us consumers as well.

Have to respect Nintendo

[Captain Kirk]

They said they could not keep up with Sony and Microsoft for technology a few years ago. There was even talk of them becoming software only. Yet here they are, focussed on gameplay and fun, and doing brilliantly. And of the big 3 they are the only ones makign a profit.

You have to admire that.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Rydia]

To be fair, the "software-only" talk was all rumor, and bad rumor at that. Nintendo has always been a (usually very) profitable company.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Akaihiryuu]

Yes...they've only had one quarter EVER where they posted a loss, and that loss was due to some bad investments overseas when the value of the yen dropped, and they got screwed on the currency exchange.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[killbill!]

If you can't beat the game, change the rules of the game.

Nintendo was unwilling to follow Sony's and Microsoft's path where "innovation" just means "more raw power" - and higher costs. The decision to change the input method was a masterstroke.

Even though the Wii is the least powerful of this generation, its novel input method makes its more powerful rivals look obsolete, shortly after their launch. The PS3 or the 360 are merely the same old, now in HD. The Wii is truly next-generation.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm almost certain that's wrong. Source? Keep in mind that in the late '60s they were in a great deal of debt, had an abysmal stock value, and were shutting down divisions all over the place--I can't imagine that happening with only one quarter of losses.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a lesson here kids: Play to your strengths.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[masklinn]

This "revolutionary" (aka: gimmicky) input method they came up with will work well for very few games, and even then only where the game is extremely simple in nature.

Don't you think it funny that we've seen exactly this kind of comments (you even managed to leave out "remote" so there's nothing to edit) when the DS was launched?

And we all know how it's ending, the DS has been out of stock for 11 months straight in Japan, wiping the floor with the PSP every single week, it's more or less obliterating the PSP in Europe, and even the USA are starting to move faster and faster towards DSmination...

It means bigger, deeper games with more realism, immersion, and freedom for the developers and the players.

uh... what? You don't mean that the games we have now are somehow deeper and more immersive than those we used to have on the SNES or on floppies do you? Cause that's a lie and you know it.

All of this means BETTER gameplay, not worse like some people seem to be insinuating.

No, all it means is better graphics and potentially better AI, not potentially better gameplay. A new input method, on the other hand, does translate to the possibility of gameplay changes, for the better or for the worse.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

The DS isn't popular simply because of the touch screen. It's because it took over from the GBA with better graphics (shocking, isn't it!! And contradictary to your argument as well) and GBA game releases dropped off afterwards. I'm no fan of any handheld, but from what I've been hearing, the PSP is selling quite well right now despite the popularity of the DS.

"uh... what? You don't mean that the games we have now are somehow deeper and more immersive than those we used to have on the SNES or on floppies do you? Cause that's a lie and you know it."

No, it's not a lie, but you seem to be lying to yourself if you're that hung up on the SNES. Sure, the games of 20 years ago are fun, I'm not disputing that, but don't pretend to live in a vacuum where bad games weren't far more common than good ones back then. The difference is that todays bad games are a hell of a lot better than the bad ones back then. And today's good games are also far more immersive and believable. There's entire genres that exist today that weren't possible back then. Look at stealth-action, for example. Nothing like that existed in the 80's or early 90's. Better graphics and processing power allows that.

Back then, you had to use your imagination to interpret what the screen was actually showing you. Were you in an epic battle with an ancient dragon at the bottom of a distant dungeon? Or were you a pixelated little cartoon character who hopped up and down when he attacked the pink blob which sort of looked like a dragon.. or maybe a lizard.. who knows.

At some point, a line was crossed somewhere and we didn't need to use imagination to translate the mess we saw onscreen into something interesting. We were now part of the game, and it was like being in a movie. The actions you carried out faithfully displayed on the screen. By adding decent physics, many additional actions are now possible without being explicitly programmed in by the developers. If you think that's a bad thing, then you need your head examined, because you're in denial and entering fanboy territory.

"No, all it means is better graphics and potentially better AI, not potentially better gameplay. A new input method, on the other hand, does translate to the possibility of gameplay changes, for the better or for the worse."

So you're saying that the new wiimote translates to the POSSIBILITY of gameplay changes, but at the same time you downplay that fact more power in a system only gives the POSSIBILITY of better gameplay (claiming the advantages I stated as not offering potententially better gameplay is just pure bullshit, admit it)

Exactly what are you arguing here? You sound very confused.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[mj_sklar]

The parent sounds confused? Sir, I think you are the confused one. When did using your imagination become a bad thing?

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[testudorex]

"They said they could not keep up with Sony and Microsoft for technology a few years ago. There was even talk of them becoming software only. Yet here they are, focussed on gameplay and fun, and doing brilliantly. And of the big 3 they are the only ones makign a profit.

You have to admire that."

You do realize Nintendo gets 100% of its profits from selling video game stuff right?
Sony and Microsoft have, you know, more than 1 entertainment sector to get profits from.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Rycross]

As much as I hate to, I have to agree with Anonymous Sony Fanboy. With some disagreement however.

The DS isn't popular simply because of the touch screen. It's because it took over from the GBA with better graphics (shocking, isn't it!! And contradictary to your argument as well) and GBA game releases dropped off afterwards. I'm no fan of any handheld, but from what I've been hearing, the PSP is selling quite well right now despite the popularity of the DS.

At first, yes, the momentum for the GBA carried the DS. But I specifically recall there being a severe lack of enthusiasm in general for the DS in the gamer community, and a lack of titles to match. Once developers got the hang of the touchscreen, we started seeing more adventurous titles, and these are what sell the DS. I hear a lot of talk about games like Brain Age and Elite Beat Agents. These are games that use the touchscreen.

The PSP has superior hardware, but it seems people are mostly using it as a portable media player and emulator. I find it interesting that Sony has shifted its marketing to focus on the media aspect.

But you are right when you say that powerful hardware brings potential for better games, just like a new input system. Theres a load of genres today that simply couldn't exist on something like the Super Nintendo, and we're better for them. Kingdom Hearts for example. One of my favorite games is Zone of the Enders 2, which wouldn't have been possible if not for the Playstation 2's hardware. Then you have a modern day game like Dead Rising, with its hordes of zombies. Those hordes, a key element in the gameplay, are possible because of the XBox360's processing power.

Then there's things like Blu-ray. At first, I was very negative about the drive being included, and jacking up the price. But after having some really great discussions with my developer friend, I can see the potential there. Remember the original Halo? People complained about the repetitive levels. Well, the developers are using that extra disk space to eliminate that sort of thing.

And today's good games are also far more immersive and believable.

I don't think its accurate to necessarily say that today's games are, altogether, better than yesteryear's games. What has happened is that we've seen a shift in genre. They aren't better, just different. And to some people, an immersive 3d shoot-em-up is a lot more fun than a 2d platformer. But there's freaks like me that find the 2d platformer more enjoyable than the shoot-em-up. And so far, 3d platforming games have mostly failed to capture the elements that made the 2d platformers what they were. I'm not trying to say that the 3d platformers are bad; they're just different.

Now don't get me wrong. After playing the Wii, I love the system. I think it will do extremely well, because its just fun. But it will do well despite the graphics, not because of it. I think the Playstation 3 will be fun too. And I think there's room enough for both of them.

I don't think that the games you see on the Nintendo will be all that similar to the games for Playstation 3. If you loved the kinds of games on Playstation 2, then you'll be right at home on Playstation 3. If you love the Gamecube or DS, then Wii will probably be a safe bet. Then there's guys like me who think both of them look cool.

Now if Sony would just stop pissing me off by acting like stuck-up dicks. I'd feel bad buying a Playstation 3, given the kind of stuff they've been pulling the last couple of years.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not inherently a bad thing, but you'll subconciously use your imagination to fill in blanks that are missing because they couldn't be accurately portrayed by the designers due to system limitations.

As the systems become more sophisticated, these blanks get filled in by the creators, leaving your imagination to come up with ideas on how to solve the puzzle/quest/game rather than cause you to grimace when you come across something that doesn't make sense (like invisible and unexplained barriers in game worlds that exist for no good reason, or the fact that your character can't climb over a 2' high curb)

When you watch a movie, you shouldn't have to use your imagination to fill in a slew of plot-holes. You should use your imagination to picture yourself in the role of the hero or the bad guy, or figure out a whodunnit.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[heli0]

"If you can't beat the game, change the rules of the game."
-- James Tiberius Kirk re: Kobayashi Maru

Paraphrased of course.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

The Wii sorta reminds me of the gamecube, it was popular at first, I knew alota people who bought it when it came out, and then it dropped in popularity. I'm sure everyone is buying it cuz of the new controller. Once people get over it, they'll see how shitting the graphics are, and the games. If nintendo were to stop making consoles, they still are a handheld monopoly and could make games.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[brkello]

I always find it amusing when I read Nintendo fanboys bragging how their company always makes more profit. In other words, compared to their competitors they are over pricing their units. Somehow this should be celebrated?

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

I always find it amusing when I read Nintendo fanboys bragging how their company always makes more profit. In other words, compared to their competitors they are over pricing their units. Somehow this should be celebrated?

What, because Nintendo doesn't engage in dumping there's a problem?

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[masklinn]

The DS isn't popular simply because of the touch screen. It's because it took over from the GBA with better graphics

Wrong, the DS started picking up steam when the DS Lite was released, more than a year after the original DS started being available, and the original DS rarely saw the kind of sales the DS:Lite generates. Want to know why the DS is popular? Animal Crossing, the Brain Age serie, Nintendogs, and NSMB. Not GBA.

Plus the DS is in good way to pass the GBA sales in Japan, the DSL has already sold in 39 weeks more than the GBASP sold in 3 years.

No, the DS is not popular "because it took over from the GBA", it's popular because it has original games making original use of the original input method, and it appeals to new markets such as women and people over 40 years old. When the DS:L was launched in Japan, those watching the launches noticed something never seen before: there were women (of any age) and erlerly in the waiting line, that was something that had pretty much never been seen. And it's repeating for the Wii.

Back then, you had to use your imagination to interpret what the screen was actually showing you

How is that a bad thing?

Were you in an epic battle with an ancient dragon at the bottom of a distant dungeon? Or were you a pixelated little cartoon character who hopped up and down when he attacked the pink blob which sort of looked like a dragon.. or maybe a lizard.. who knows.

You should download a few SNES roms, you'll find out that dragons were quite recognizable.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[masklinn]

The Wii sorta reminds me of the gamecube, it was popular at first

In japan at least, the GC's lauch was far less impressive than the Wii is. Now we'll see how that spans on the long run.

I'm sure everyone is buying it cuz of the new controller.

Yeah, no one is buying it cause the games are actually fun to play, and the reports we're hearing that it is are just illusions and figments of our imaginations.

Once people get over it, they'll see how shitting the graphics are, and the games.

Indeed, just as they stopped buying DSs when they realized how worse than the PSP's the graphics were, and how shitty the games were.

Oh, wait...

If nintendo were to stop making consoles

Dude? Nintendo is ending what's one of their most profitable years ever, they raised their financial expectations because they did so much better than what they'd forecasted, and every single Wii is sold for a profit. Even if the Wii somehow stopped selling right now, they won't be in any kind of trouble, and would just start working on their next console.

Nintendo isn't going to go third party anytime soon, keep dreaming dude.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[edwdig]

Actually, the value of the yen went up. It was the US Dollar that dropped. They invest their profits in the country they are earned in, but report results in yen. Without the dollar bombing, they actually would've had a rather successful quarter.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[edwdig]

Nintendo's profitability comes from two things:

1) They don't sell anything at a loss.

2) They rely primarily on first party games. The entire profit of a first party game goes to Nintendo. Sony and Microsoft rely mainly on 3rd party games, of which they get around $8 per sale (and less on budget games).

Nintendo being massively profitable means they make really good games that sell a lot.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[corky842]

Remember the original Halo? People complained about the repetitive levels. Well, the developers are using that extra disk space to eliminate that sort of thing. Really? I thought it was because of laziness, not a lack of storage space.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[trdrstv]

Remember the original Halo? People complained about the repetitive levels. Well, the developers are using that extra disk space to eliminate that sort of thing. Really? I thought it was because of laziness, not a lack of storage space.

Exactly. Halo wasn't anywhere near 9 gigs in size.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[justchris]

This "revolutionary" (aka: gimmicky) input method they came up with will work well for very few games, and even then only where the game is extremely simple in nature. Everyone was drooling about how this would work with FPS games, but so far that's turning out to be a big letdown, as demonstrated by Red Steel and Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

Just because something is gimmicky doesn't mean it's not revolutionary. And if you read the reviews, the control scheme actually does work better for FPS. SC:DA was a complete mess, yes, but most reviews say the only good thing about Red Steel is the control scheme (for the shooting, apparently the swordplay is pretty bad). Otherwise, check the reviews for Call of Duty 3, with the Wii version so far considered the best version, although it gets knocked hard for a lack of multiplayer.

And speaking of DA, this is a taste of things to come with multi-platform titles. Seriously, check out how badly this game was butchered in it's translation to the woefully-underpowered Wii. Dammit, the XBox 1 version looks better than this, and the Wii controller just isn't sophisticated enough to handle the input on this game, just like the GC couldn't do it properly in last-gen's versions either.

How does that make any sense? The GC controller has exactly 1 less button than the PS2 and Xbox controllers (not to mention better analog sticks than either) and the GC was more powerful than the PS2, and pretty close to the Xbox in power. Loss of a single button can be significant, yes, but shouldn't break a game. Depending on how you plan to use it, the Wii is either 2 or 4 buttons short, and you can often replace those with gestures. So if you really just want to port a game over without using the motion controlling you can. No one does that because the motion control is better.

And let's put this ignorant, tired line of "all the other consoles have to rely on is better graphics" to rest already. It's being parroted all over the place by fanboys who don't understand. The PS3 and X360 are far more powerful in: CPU, GPU, system memory, and storage space. This allows for more than just better graphics, you know. It means bigger, deeper games with more realism, immersion, and freedom for the developers and the players. It means better AI is possible in single-player elements. All of this means BETTER gameplay, not worse like some people seem to be insinuating.

That is partially true. PS3 & 360 games will certainly have better physics. They may have more immersive environments, that mostly depends on art direction and programmers. Zelda:TP is immersive because of the art direction and the attention to detail, despite the weaker graphics compared to the other systems, and it's a GC game. PS3 & 360 games will certianly have more realism, and more freedom for the developers (although that also means more work). This does not mean the games will be bigger or deeper, however. When designing to a 720p spec over a 480p spec, you're using more space and more memory. Because of the weaker graphics on the Wii, it can have environments just as large and deep as anything on the 360. Here the PS3 will have the advantage because of the Blu-ray drive, but then it has limitations in memory access, so chances are it's a wash across all three systems. As for better AI, the primary cores in the PS3 and 360 are actually inferior for AI. The cores they purchased from IBM are heavily enhanced for graphics, but have several issues which causes AI to suffer. The Wii processor is a far more advanced at handling AI, and it's memory architecture has less latency, so it's likely the Wii will see better AI than either other system. On the other hand, the processor is slower, so it probably can't run as many AI at once, so there it's a tradeoff.

My objection is, you see the Wii as an inferior system automatically. I've played the Wii and the 360 (haven't had a chance with a PS3 yet, none of my fri

Bleach game

[rlp]

I hope Sega releases the Bleach game for the Wii in the US. It looks like a lot of fun. It makes excellent use of the Wiimote. And you get to look really stupid while playing it. Ban Kai!!

Re:Bleach game

[KDR_11k]

I don't have high hopes for it. The DS game is awesome but the GC game is pretty weak and I don't think they put Treasure to work on the Wii one. IOW Bleach Wii will probably be as weak as Bleach GC.

Re:Bleach game

[cjp]

Reviews of the Wii version of the latest DBZ game are promising, if looking really stupid while playing is a bonus :) "Ka me ha me HA! Oh crap, there goes the TV."

Wii already sold

[MemoryDragon]

over 1 million units, they currently are at 1.1 mio units sold according to http://www.nexgenwars.com/ and by the end of next week they will hit the 2 mio marks, because the rollouts in europe and Australia are still to be done.

And Europe alone will count for 600.000 while Europe is not that Nintendo crazy, I do not expect lines as long as in Japan or the USA, it still will sellout within the first day, I assume.

The reason why Europe is not as Nintendo crazy as the rest is easily explained, they usually charge the highest prices while often if not always are the last to get the releases. Big vendors do not push Nintendo too much over here due to many reasons (the average ds corner in the big stores over here in central europe is more like ok we have it too, but we want to sell PSPs). Or to some it up in other words, Nintendo Europe is a bunch of morons who really should get their act together, the same goes for Apple Europe!

Re:Wii already sold

[Anonymous Coward]

Europe is definitely going to sell out. There are already going to be shortages in Europe because apparently the Wii has gotten the most pre-orders ever in Europe (as reported by Nintendo). And nintendo has yet to stat numbers for Europe launch.

Re:Wii already sold

[Nossie]

I had to phone apple sales in france because I wanted to check where my mbp was... I cant remember the last time I had such bad service, that was at least till I got transfered over to after sales in Ireland and had a wonderful irish lassie tell me the script.

Sadly however it still doesn't justify that the mbp I ordered and would take 3 days to ship.. was still in China and they wouldn't know where it was until it hit British soil and collected with the other items I ordered with it.

I didnt find out about the two week lead time until after I gave them my credit card details.. all that for a slightly faster hard disk ? :-\

Re:Wii already sold

[masklinn]

Europe is not that Nintendo crazy

Europe is the territory where Nintendogs sold the most period. The DS is extremely successful here in sonyland, and from what I've heard it looks like a fair lot of the launch units have been reserved already (the FNAC Montparnasse in Paris told a friend that they could pre-order a Wii, but would be put on the 20th shipment because the 8th was sold out already, and that was last weekend)

Also you shouldn't rely on nextgenwars numbers, they're as innacurate as they may be (even though they seem pretty ok on that single one, as Nintendo announced 600k sold in NA, and the Wii's 400k launch units got sold out first day in japan)

Re:Wii already sold

[MemoryDragon]

Actually you cannot judget Europe by Europe, where I live central europe, the day the ds lite was launched it was reported to be sold out all over europe, and yet I was walking in the afternoon three days later into the next electronics superstore and there it was sitting happily in one corner in about a dozend boxes waiting to be picked up next to a measly DS games shelve half filled with gba games, while the PSP had its own shelve five times as big... Anyway I had no troubles to get the DS lite. And yes the DS is highly successful, but given this experience I highly doubt any crowds on the 8th at least in the area where I live. I will be there at 9 am when the store opens I will walk in pick a box, and go home happily.

Oblig xkcd

[Terminal Saint]

Sums it up pretty well...

Re:Oblig xkcd

[AvitarX]

That is so true.

<uch better than the vgcats that I keep seeing.

Ending a 39 week run?

[RandomBabblings]

Assuming all of the allocated units were sold, the Wii will probably sell more units than the DS Lite this week. That would end the 39 week string of the DS Lite at the top of the Japanese weekly hardware sales charts, which it has held since its launch in March.

Who would have guessed that Nintendo would have to dethrone itself...

Re:Ending a 39 week run?

[7Prime]

Who would have guessed that Nintendo would have to dethrone itself...

Ouch, that's gotta hurt. I feel really sorry for them :(

nexgenwars.com.......

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.nexgenwars.com
Yeah I trust that as much as I trust the sales figures relased by companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.

Nice how they have no info on how they really get their numbers, and no real contact or "about this site" info.

With the weekly Japanse one you can tell how many sold that week vs. total, but beyond that part of the world....

Re:nexgenwars.com.......

[MemoryDragon]

In case of the wii the numbers are very clear... USA roughly 700.000, sold out. Japan 400.000 sold out.

Why couldn't Americans be more organized?

[MaWeiTao]

I can't help but wonder why stores in the US can't be more organized and responsible like they are in Japan. I really feel like people in the US lack any sort of pride in what they do, and it's especially bad in the retail space.

The Wii launch was more civilized than the PS3 only because there were more units to be had; otherwise we would almost certainly have seen the same sort of nonsense.

Re:Why couldn't Americans be more organized?

[WilliamSChips]

Because the Japanese all got their Wiis three weeks ago from Hiro Nakamura.

Re:Why couldn't Americans be more organized?

[Anonymous Coward]

Two words: bottom line.

It's but a matter of priorities, as in all things...

DS + Wii?

[DECS]

Are there any titles that make use of the potential for using the DS as an input/controller for the Wii yet (or any planned)? I've seen Nintendo chat up the potential, but haven't seen any actual examples of titles that use the DS as a microphone/drawing tablet/distributed console accessory yet.

PlayStation 3 vs. Xbox 360 vs. Nintendo Wii

5 Success Factors for Next Generation Game Consoles

Re:DS + Wii?

[masklinn]

The first Wii game using the Wii-DS connectivity should be Pokemon Battle Revolution, with links to the DS' Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl games. I don't know how the DS' will be used though, probably just to get your pokemons into BR

Re:DS + Wii?

[oniboy]

I just woke up & put on the teli & the first thing I saw was an add for Pokemon Battle Revolution. It showed the DS being used to play the game with the Wii. Its due out here in Japan on the 14th. Heres a couple of links for you, sorry only in Japanese ( which I cant read well myself ). http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20061117/ poke.htm (lost of screen shots) http://www.pokemon.co.jp/game/wii/pbr_sp/

Not Wrong

[LKM]

It seems to probably be true. It was a big deal when it happened, and every news site reported it as the first ever loss for Nintendo "since going public in 1962."

Re:in other new

[masklinn]

Actually, if you watch Famitsu's pictures of the launch you'll see a frightening amount of women (that's like guys, but with more breasts and less penises, if you don't know what it means) for a japanese system launch.

Wii are the Champions

[Soiden]

So, Nintendo is making its way to the throne, and we can see by now. I really hope this continues this way, I think Nintendo deserves the first place once again, with such an innovative and small white VIDEOGAMES console.

Not so painless launch

[oniboy]

The stores here in Japan were well organized with the Wii launch, most of the stores I went to had signs saying about selling the machines to preferred customers which meant they were running a lottery system. You went to the counter & filled in a small form & they would give you a small receipt with a number on it. On launch day you had to go to the store & see if your number had been drawn.

On the lists I saw in my area there were only about 100 or so numbers listed so as you can imagine there were a lot of people walking up to the posting & walking away looking less than happy. Some walked over to check out the Wii game offerings that they now wouldnt be able to even consider purchasing until who knows when, others checked out the PS2 games & consoles as thats the only choice left to them but most of them just seemed to keep on walking straight to the exit (myself included).

Of my friends no one managed to get a Wii & when you ask the shop staff when the Wii will be available they just replay they dont know. This feels like what happened a while back with the DS which I had some interest in but it took so long for them to become available in the shops that I eventually lost any interest in owning one.

The thing thats driving me the most crazy is that Nintendos been advertising this thing like crazy for weeks now ( with no sign of letting up ) so theres a huge demand for it but potentially zero availability. As you could guess there are quite a few people pissed off that they wont be able to enjoy playing Wii during their winter vacations or be able to buy a Wii for their kids for xmas.

Re:Not so painless launch

[Kurayamino-X]

it's been years in the making and you loose intrest because it takes a month longer than the absolute minimum to get your hands on one?

Re:Not so painless launch

[oniboy]

No, ive far from lost interest. The problem is I have way to much interest and no way to quench my thirst for this great looking device thats being dangled in front of my face everywhere I look.

From what ive seen Nintendo has done a fantastic job on this & I totally applaud them I just wish (probably as they do) they had been able to produce a high enough volume of their product to meet the demand they have drummed up.

As soon as I know when the Wii will be available again in the shops I will be shore to be there with everyone else trying to get my hands on one again.

BTW does anyone know if Wii games bought from other countries will run on the Wii ? I bought a PS2 a while back but any game that looks like fun ( such as rpgs ) are only available to me in Japanese & as I cant understand Japanese well enough to play these games & I cant buy foreign games as they wont play on my Japanese bought console I have a very limited number of games to choice from.

Re:Not so painless launch

[justchris]

In that case, you may want to import a North American Wii. Wii games are region coded, so they will only play on the system from the same country. If you don't mind paying a premium, you might want to try picking one up off ebay.

Bullshit

[SinGunner]

I was at Yodobashi Camera Friday night. First, they wouldn't allow us to line up prior to 8PM, which meant at 8PM, there were 200 people waiting to go down to the basement level 4 just milling around in front of the elevators. So at 8, they decide only one elevator will be allowed and everyone rushes it. Then, they say we can't use that because we're crushing eachother and knocking over displays to get at the elevator. I was at the front cause I had gotten there so early, and now I was at the back because they wanted us to use the escalators behind us. Putting now 500 people down 4 flights of escalators, but trying to keep them in groups at the very bottom: NOT A FUCKING GOOD IDEA. The tiny room before we were allowed to get to B4 was so full that people were trying to walk backwards up the escalator to keep from smashing into everyone else, and resultantly smashing into the the other 500 people coming down, with no communication to the top to stop allowing people. Fucking idiots. It was the biggest failure of management I've ever seen, and I'm American. SOOO, we have 1500 people sitting in the basement, barely room between us, trying to get to the bathroom and whatnot for 4 hours. Then they hand out tickets, starting with the "assumed" front of the line. Mine was number 468, which tells you what happened to the real front. We're told we can leave and come back, so everybody leaves, but the hardcore people stayed until 7AM to ensure their good positioning, which was a good idea cause I showed up at 7AM, putting me about 700 back. I got my Wii quick enough, but they were running low on accessories.

SO I get my Wii, take it home and have been playing it since. It's an awesome system, but it can't tell when I'm putting a disk in it, so I have to shove it all the way in, then turn it on for it to suck it in. Then, when it spits one out, it comes ALL THE WAY OUT. I have to stand there to catch it. Then there's the fact that if the game doesn't have a "sync" function in it for the controllers, I'm fucked for getting more than one controller in the game. I tried all the things it says online and in the instruction manuals (both the Japanese and English ones (the Jap manual is scarce on tech support)). I guess I gotta work through Nintendo of Japan to get this shit taken care of. Pain in my ass, but that's what I get for getting a launch console.

BTW, Made in Wario rocks, as well as elebits. Zelda is so-so, and the sports/wiiplay are also a lot of fun. I just wish Wario had a sync function in game. Remotes changing hands isn't a huge deal, but I've got 3, so why should I have to worry about it?

Re:Bullshit

[wheresdrew]

I was at Yodobashi Akiba as well. But my experience was a little different from what you describe. Before we left Friday night, we made sure we could come back and join the line prior to 7AM. They said we could, so I came back around 6AM. I know somebody else who came back around 3. We both had pretty good positions and got our systems pretty quickly.

Seriously though - 4 hour wait? The tickets were passed out before 11PM.

BTW, bummer about your Wii not working properly.

Re:Bullshit

[SinGunner]

I got there at 7, making it 4 hours for me. I suppose it was only 3 for people who got there at 8. The rest still applies. They were in no way prepared for the first 500 people. Nobody knew what was going on, and the staff was just generally rude to those who wanted to line up before the 8PM elevator crush. Maybe you got to the basement before they had to shut off the escalators to avoid SERIOUS FUCKING INJURY TO CUSTOMERS. I, on the other hand, had to yell at people about to get on the escalator to not get on. The management could have done a hundred things differently that could have made a big difference.

My main problem is that they set a time for the waiting to begin. If you say 8 o'clock, people are gonna be there at 7:30, and if you don't have a game plan for that, your position needs to be forfeit. Console launches happen about every 4 years. My digital watch can reset itself on a leap year, why can't retail outlets get a clue as well?

Re:Bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

Press the home button, then set up the Wii remotes. Click reconnect and follow the instructions on screen to hook up more controllers.

Fully half the line I was in

[patio11]

I got my Wii pre-ordered but went to the store (in a decent sized city in rural Japan -- allocation was 40 consoles + pre-orders, everyone in line got one). Fully half of the people lined up were of the fairer sex. Some were there with their boyfriends, there were a lot of families with the kids in toe, and at least two groups of high school girls were getting Wiis for themselves.

The launch was, incidentally, as smooth as silk. 45 minutes before the door opened they gave everyone in line a "you are guaranteed to get a Wii when we open, no need to rush" ticket. There were only about 20 people in the store when I picked mine up, most browsing the Nintendo sections while two queues proceeded in a very orderly manner.

ahhh...

[chibiskuld]

I remember getting my wii... Walk into Walmart 7am in the morning and ask, so where's the line for the Wii? I'm escorted to a moderately warm room and told: "Take a seat in this chair, the chairs are numbered, each chair is 1 wii." With it being a comfy chair, I got to sit around all day playing video games, 10 man tetris, and generally having fun instead.

Re:DS + Wii = Pokemon Online.

[trdrstv]

The first Wii game using the Wii-DS connectivity should be Pokemon Battle Revolution, with links to the DS' Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl games. I don't know how the DS' will be used though, probably just to get your pokemons into BR

Actually it was confirmed that Pokemon Battle Revolution will be the first Wii title to go online. I'm not sure for what specifically, but the DS versions are online enabled to trade, battle and includes voice chat.